Seahawks land at No. 4 in PFT’s preseason power rankings

The Seattle Seahawks finished last season as the second best team in the NFC West and will start the 2013 season in the same place in PFT’s preseason rankings.

However, that still warrants a spot in the top 5 in our rankings.

The Seahawks fell just short of a trip to the NFC Championship game last season and are considered among the favorites to win the NFC in 2013. The San Francisco 49ers still feel they are the ones to beat in the west and Seattle will have to get past their hated rival to reach their ultimate goal.

For an in-depth look at the Seahawks check out our full preview of the team as they get set to open training camp on Thursday. Is our ranking of Seattle correct? Let us know what you think.

They won last year’s playoff game because Shanahan was too stupid to pull RGIII out when it was clear he was hurt and all the Seahawk fans think their team is a Super Bowl Champion. Don’t be surprised when Lynch hits the Shaun Alexander wall around week 7 or so and the team falls flat on their face.
I believed they were a playoff team last preseason, and this preseason I believe they will miss the cut and finish 7th or 8th in the NFC.

Longtime Hawks fan here. I like my team’s prospects, but they need to prove that they can win consistently on the road to be considered an ‘elite’ team (which I think is a proxy for saying ‘Super Bowl contender’). They were 3-5 on the road last year, which included losses at the Lions and Dolphins. That’s not going to cut it. They made up for that by going 8-0 at home, but with the Niners in their division, even going 11-5 again this season might still only get you the #5 seed, depending on how good the Niners are.

Pluses: Wilson had a slow start as a rookie, really picked it up towards end of season, see no reason why he wouldn’t continue to progress. O-Line was a mess because of injuries last season, unlikely to repeat. Addition of draft pick RB Michael is a Lynch clone and can help keep Beastmode’s legs fresh. Addition of Antoine Winfield provides a probowl-caliber nickel back, which was a weak spot all season. Addition of Cliff Avril brings some much needed pass rushing to complement Chris Clemons, who somehow has had 33.5 sacks in the last three seasons. Percy Harvin adds major speed at WR which was a gap in their arsenal.

Negatives: Bruce Irvin suspended 1st four games for PEDs, idiot. Avril coming off injury. Clemons coming off major injury. That’s the bulk of the pass rushing and the first two games are against some fast QBs in Cam Newton and Kaepernick. We have a huge drop-off in quality if Wilson goes down from injury, and he scrambles a fair bit, so risk of injury is higher. Zach Miller was the unsung hero of the win over the Redskins in the wildcard, and the near-hero in the loss to the Falcons in the divisional round – and he is coming off injury. Big drop-off in quality after him at TE.

If things fall right for this team, they could go 13-3 – win everything except at Niners, at Giants, at Texans. But if injuries take longer to heal, the new parts on defense take too long to jell, or if something happens to Wilson, they could just as easily go 8-8. I’m optimistic but there are plenty of reasons that things *could* fall apart.

You don’t have to like them, but I don’t see this team regressing. Take every reason people have given why Russell Wilson shouldn’t have been considered over RGIII and Luck for OROY (top tier defense and running game, better O line, better receivers). None of that changed. Add the fact that Wilson can actually play with the additions on offense and defense through free agency and the draft and it’s tough to argue a slump or skid by Seattle. The comparison to Eagles “Dream Team” and an inevitable flop has zero correlation. Seattle went 4-0 in preseason last year and the comparison to a 0-16 Detroit Lions team was thrown out. I just wouldn’t make a habit out of telling these guys what they can’t do since this is the recipe that drives them to prove otherwise.

Also long time Seahawks fan don’t post much because while you call us ignorant I see plenty of ignorance from the rest of the other teams fans. I think this is about right before the season starts. I fully believe the Seahawks have the ability to win it all this year and haven’t seen this much excitement since the 2005 year. However, I’m a realist we are in the toughest division in football now. We have a lot to prove.

How coupd you list the Referees as a drawback or hold back to Seattle going to the SB when they single-handidly won you the GB game? Not even Golden Tate is ignorant enough to believe he caught that ball in the endzone.

I found it amazing that when folks feel threatened, they lash out. I got it, your team has won one or twice, has gotten a national championship or two, has had the reefs make a really crappy call that cost your team the game, made a really good call that you don’t agree with that cost your team the game, whatever the issue us, I got it, your scared that the Seahawks will destroy your teams chance. Don’t worry, you don’t have to be scared. It will happen, it has already happened. We might not have the trophy, but we do have the beast, the 12th man, a devastating ball field and an intelligent coach driving an offense that is led by an extremely intelligent quarterback.
I can’t help that you are incapable of looking at replay video and identify that a referee made a difficult and accurate call, not can I help that my players actually got caught taking some questionable substances, just like I can’t help that the collection procedures are called into question.
Quit whining, and watch while the Seahawks start this season off in a beautiful way.
By winning.
Stop blaming a coach for”causing”your player to be hurt when he fought to play, and then faced the toughest defense seen in decades only to run scared.
Get over it. He has, our at least his young arrogance thinks he has.
The hawks will not be perfect, but they will be devastating, they will cause fear, they will win

@thepunkyqb
You know when the analysts identify that a call is accurate by the rule book, one should stop whining about it. There will always be those who think it was a bad call, much like the”pass interference”during the Seahawks Steelers superbowl game. Every single game has at least one questionable call, or non-call and some even change the course of the game. It happens in every sport.
Its part of the game.
Move on.

Wow!! I think we are the most hated team inv the nfl. We hve ignorant fans. Really??? Every team has those fans. HGH testing will make haters puppies. Pats crickets, Broncos crickets, Browns crickets, Niners DA WON’T PRESS ASSAULT ON TEAMMATE WITH A BEER BOTTLE!!! Ur team is NEXT HAWKS HATERS, WE HVE ADDERRALLLLL CAN’T WAIT TO SEE WAT UR TEAM HVE. AND IF U THINK WE ARE SO SORRY , SHOW UR $$$$$$$, I WON $23,640 last year. I am waiting….

Overrated – this team hasn’t even won a Super Bowl. Some teams know how to win when it matters but the Hawks have never proved they should be listed in the same breath as the Patriots, Packers, Steelers, or 49ers. They also need to learn how to win on the road. Until then, its the 49ers and Packers in the NFC.

I find some “Seahawk” fans in here annoying myself. When a supposed Seahawk fan says “We’ll keep on pushing the PEDs and pumping in the artificial noise to aggravate all you losers” I find that annoying as then some ignorant fan of another team will say that even Seahawk fans say they pump in noise etc. I also find it amusing when fans of other teams call Seahawk fans ignorant and annoying as they post drivel, laden with profanities, put downs with no basis and ignorant comments. Seahawk fans need to get over the bad SB other fans need to get over the PED and the bad call. By the way if you would like to check facts rather than posting out of ignorance, the Seahawks are not even the leading team in PED suspensions the last couple years that honor belongs to Washington. Look it up.

I do not know about that the rest of his comment made it seem like he was a Seahawk fan. Additionally, that is not the only time I have seen it, people will comment thinking fine but not thinking about the ammo they provide.

San Fran is better. It only lost to Seattle on SNF because Justin Smith was hurt and that increased the deficit.
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so Kaep running around like a deer caught in headlights had nothing to do with it? Justin Smith would not have been able to change the fact that the 49er offense couldn’t get in the end zone.

Long time season ticket holder….really? ignorant fans? I have had to sit through games watching ignorant opposing fans acting out in our stadium. We don’t need to pump in noise….we are behind our team cheering from the moment they enter the stadium till the last whistle. All I can say is bring it…your teams will be left crying after they enter the Legion of Boom.

San Fran is better. It only lost to Seattle on SNF because Justin Smith was hurt and that increased the deficit.
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so Kaep running around like a deer caught in headlights had nothing to do with it? Justin Smith would not have been able to change the fact that the 49er offense couldn’t get in the end zone.

How did little Russell do at Candlestick?
9/23 with 123 yards and 1 int…yeah he’s great…the seahawks couldn’t even put up a TD at Candlestick park.